Bound book accessory



2 Sheets-Sheet 1 m E A V 4 HT 5 m E 1. we W 5 MW .1 I n )k m N L a 3 u ma I .1 W

a. z v M a T 1 H y, flmwm n a LA..I/.I.I F U a Jan. 1, 1963 M. ESSMAN BOUND BOOK ACCESSORY Filed Sept. 19, 1961 Jan. 1, 1963 M. ESSMAN BOUND BOOK ACCESSORY 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 19, 1961 INVENTOR BY O mmwwuwm 3,071,395 B'QUND BQOK ACCESSQRY Manuel Essman, 316 E. 34th St., New York, NY. Filed Sept. 19, 1961, Ser. No. 139,144 3 Claims. (Cl. 281-42) The present invention is concerned especially with the art of bound books.

This application is a continuation-in-part of my copending application Serial Number 768,741, filed October 21, 1958, now abandoned.

It is among the objects of the invention to provide a self-contained, simple and inexpensive accessory for a bound book, which may constitute a unitary part of such book and, while especially developed for educational books and has specialized utility for such purpose, it is by no means limited to such use.

Another object is to provide an accessory constituting a unitary part of a bound book, which admits the ready emplacement at will of a unitary screen constituting a unitary part of the accessory between any two leaves of the book for concealing and subsequently exposing to view, as desired, portions of the page over which such screen is placed.

In it preferred embodiments the invention aifords an accessory unitary with the bound book, which permits the emplacement of a screen over any page and the adjustment of the screen to cover and to uncover any selected portion of the page for facility in the teaching of a foreign language, in the identification of pictures, in the answering of questions, in the solution of mathematical or other problems and the like.

In the accompanying drawings in which are shown one or more of various possible embodiments of the several features of the invention,

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of the accessory combined with a book,

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal section taken on line 22 of FIG. 1, indicating one use of the accessory,

FIG. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken on line 33 of FIG. 2,

FIG. 4 is a perspective view, with parts broken away, showing the accessory incorporated with a signature or a sheaf of the component sheets of a book,

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken on line 55 of FIG. 4,

FIG. 6 is a transverse sectional view taken on line 66 of FIG. 5,

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary view in longitudinal cross section taken on line 8-8 of FIG. 7, and

FIG. 9 is a transverse sectional view taken on line 9 of FIG. 8.

Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows a bound Volume or book of generally conventional construction, comprising a front cover 10, a back cover 11, and the multiplicity of intervening leaves or pages of the book 13, stitched or bound together as at 14 in conventional manner, such binding spanning the usual curved back or facing 12 of the book. As generally indicated by dotted lines, each page 13 has a zone of printed matter 13a bounded by horizontally extending margin zones 13b and vertically extending margin zones 130. The lowermost extremity of the zone of printed matter 13a on the page is indicated by reference numeral 13c.

The book has incorporated therewith an accessory structure, which may be and preferably is a unitary part of the book, and affords a'screen to be superposed at will over any page of the book and to be movably placed on that page for concealing selected portions of the zone 3,9713% Patented Jan. 1, 1963 of printed matter 13a and thereafter exposing such selected portions to view as required.

The accessory may comprise a thin frame 16, desirably with laterally protruding fiat tabs 17 which may be superposed over and adhesively attached transversely of the stitch-binding 14. The frame 16 extends longitudinally of the back of the book between the sheet binding 14 and the back or facing 12.

Within the frame 16 is the stem 18 of a slide member 19 which has desirably laterally extending lugs 20 adapted to be moved with the slide member between the closed bottom 21 of the frame and shoulders 22 near the top of the frame, to limit the stroke of the slide member to extended and retracted positions thereof with respect to frame 16, as will be generally understood, and

to prevent its removal from the frame.

The frame desirably has a plastic cover 23 cemented thereto to confine the slide member, which is likewise of plastic, from displacement laterally within the frame. The stem of the slide member protrudes, as at 24, from the open upper end of the frame 16 beyond the top of the book. The slide member, which is desirably a flat plate as shown, is formed as a unitary element with a lateral wing 25, from the free end of which there depends 2. depending portion 26a including a lateral screen portion 26 unitary therewith, that may if desired extend across the major portion of the width of a page of the book, or may be narrower, depending upon its purpose. As will be observed, the depending portions 261:. and 26 together have substantially L-shaped configuration in the preferred embodiments.

As shown, the slide member with its Wing portion 25 and pendent screen portion 26 of thin plastic may extend in a plane at right angles to that of the flat stem portion 18, 24, the wing being integrally connected at 27 to the protruding stem portion 24. In any case, the wing 25 is of length such that its terminal end 25a extends to a location outside the book structure Within an area extension, such as is indicated by dotted lines 13d, of an end of one of the book page zones, such as vertically extending margin zone 13c, and lateral screen portion 26 projects into the zone of printed matter 13a.

While the accessory may be adhesivcly affixed at lateral tabs 17 to the binding 14 of the leaves of the book, prior to the installation of the leaves in the cover of the book, it will be understood that the accessory could, if desired, be applied to a prefabricated book by introducing the assembly of frame and slide in position between the binding and the back or facing of the book and pressing an adhesive coating (not shown) upon tabs 17, or upon much or all of the back face of frame 16, in position by resort to an appropriate pressing tool (not shown introduced between binding 14 and back or facing 12 of the book. The tool may be a heated tool applied under pressure until the adhesive has set.

When the book is on the shelf or in a bookcase, the slide will be pushed inward as far as it will go with the lower end 28 thereof abutting the lower end 21 of the frame. In this case the accessory will protrude but slightly above the book.

In use, as indicated for instance in FIG. 2, the slide would be pulled to uppermost position, the lugs 20 then abutting shoulders 22 to keep the slide in its frame. The screen 26 is now completely above the book, and may then be introduced at any selected page and pushed downward therealong (the stem 18 progressively moving downward within frame 16) until the screen covers the text or picture to be concealed. For instance, in learning a foreign language where a line appears in French and therebelow the translation in English, the panel would be placed in position to conceal the English translation and, after the student has determined the meaning of the corresponding French line, he can check his translation with the English, which he thereupon exposes by shift of the screen 26. The device could of course be applied to associating the name of an article and its corresponding picture or the answer to a question, or the answer to a mathematical or other problem, and in numerous other relations. Of course, the length of the depending portion 26a is such as will permit the screen 26 to conceal and subsequently reveal, as above indicated, all portions of the printed matter 13a on the page, including the lower extremity 132 thereof.

It will of course be understood that, while the slide and its frame are desirably of flat stock, the frame could be of tubular stock and the slide stem of rod stock of small diameter, which admit of application to the binding of the book leaves in the same manner as hereinabove described.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 4, and 6, the accessory unit is of type to be adhesively aflixed to the signature or component sheaf of sheets of the book, instead of being introduced between the curved back or face and the binding of the leaves of the book.

In this embodiment the frame is a thin fiat plastic unit 30, open at its face 32, closed at its bottom 31, and open at its top at 33, with the stem 34 of the slide confined therein. The frame is closed at its face by cementing the periphery of said open face to sheaf binding strip 36 as shown. The slide 34 is thus confined in place between the frame 36 and the binding strip 36 to which it is cemented, said strip serving as the cover for the inverted open frame, as appears best in the sectional view, FIG. 6.

The binding strip 36 is longitudinally folded at 46 and straddles the binding edge 43 of the signature or leaflet component 47 of the bound book. The straddling strip 36 may be stitched, as at 49 or, if desired, may be stapled to the leaflet.

In this embodiment, as in that of FIG. 1, the stem of the slide has an enlargement 3S and the upper end of the frame has a shoulder 39 to limit the stroke of the slide and prevent its removal from the frame or the book. The slide has a wing 40, unitary with the outer or upper end of the stem 34, the screen (not shown) unitary with said wing depending therefrom. for use in the same mannor as in the embodiment of FIGS. 1 to 3.

In FIGS. 7, 8 and 9 is shown another embodiment in which the frame 50, which is closed at its lower end 50', may be similar to those of the other embodiments, is adhesively affixed directly to leaf 55 of the book along and near its binding. In this embodiment the frame is shown with more than one slide. Here the slides 51 and 52 extend in side by side parallel relation in the frame and are confined therein in the same manner (not shown) as in the embodiment of FIGS. 4, 5 and 6. The two slides protrude beyond the frame, as at 51' and 52 respectively and have lateral wings 53 and 54 respectively that may be selectively positioned, as desired, at different portions of the book, one, for instance, to place its screen 56 on a question page and the other with its screen 57 on a page near the back of the book, for the corresponding answer.

Each slide has a stop lug S8 at its lower end which is blocked by shoulders 59 extending inwardly from the lateral walls of the frame 59, at its upper end.

While the invention has specialized utility as a unitary accessory for educational books, it of course would have utility as a book mark or as a medium for advertising material, among other possible uses.

While the accessory is preferably permanently affixed to the book as set forth, either as the book is originally made, or may be installed in a book after the same has been bound, it will be understood that, if desired, the accessory may be an article of manufacture apart from the book.

It will thus be seen that the invention afords a partic- A ularly inexpensive accessory of high utility in the educational and related arts, among other applications thereof.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope of the claims, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description, or shown in the accompanying drawings, shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. The combination of a bound book with an accessory constituting a permanent part of the book, comprising hollow frame means attached to the structure of the book and disposed generally to one side of the page zone of the book, and a slide member of stiff material comprising an integral stem portion slidable within said hollow frame means a distance which substantially corresponds to the height of the book, said stem portion having length providing an end thereof protruding from the top of the book, an integral wing portion projecting laterally from one side of said one end of the stem portion and generally within the plane of the stem portion thereby providing a projecting end of said wing portion within an area of extension of the width of the book at its top end, an integral depending portion depending from said projecting end of the Wing portion parallel to and spaced from said stem portion and generally within said plane of the latter, said depending portion having length which substantially corresponds to the height of the book thereby providing an end of the depending portion positionable both above and Within the area of a page of the book, and an integral opaque screen portion projecting laterally from one side of said end of the depending portion and generally within said plane of the stem portion a distance corresponding to the width of a zone of printed matter on such page of the book, whereby the screen portion may readily be introduced between any two pages of the book and is positionable at any location within the height of such page of the book to progressively cover such printed matter, and thereafter uncover the same at a reading location above the screen portion, by slidably adjusting said stem portion within said hollow frame means.

2. The combination of a bound book with an accessory constituting a permanent part of the book, said bound book comprising a plurality of signatures and signature binding means binding said signatures together at their back ends which normally coincide with the binding of said book, and said accessory comprising hollow frame means attached by said signature binding means at said back ends of the signatures, and a slide member of stiff material comprising an integral stem portion slidable within said hollow frame means a distance which substantially corresponds to the height of the book, said stem portion having length providing an end thereof protruding from the top of the book, an integral wing portion projecting laterally from one side of said one end of the stem portion and generally within the plane of the stem portion thereby providing a projecting end of said wing portion within an area of extension of the width of the book at its top end, an integral depending portion depending from said projecting end of the wing portion parallel to and spaced from said stem portion and generally within said plane of the latter, said depending portion having length which substantially corresponds to the height of the book thereby providing an end of the depending portion positionable both above and within the area of a page of the book, and an integral opaque screen portion projecting laterally from one side of said end of the depending portion and generally within said plane of the stem portion a distance corresponding to the width of a zone of printed matter on such page of the book, whereby the screen portion may readily be introduced between any two pages of the book and is positionable at any location within the height of such page of the book to progressively cover such printed matter, and thereafter uncover the same at a reading location above the screen portion, by slidably adjusting said stem portion Within said hollow frame means.

3. An accessory for a book structure having pages at least one of which has a zone of printed matter bounded by horizontally and vertically extending margin zones, said accessory comprising an elongated hollow frame of thin stock for attachment to said book structure in position generally parallel to one of such margin zones, said frame having length substantially corresponding to the height of said one margin zone, and an elongated slide member of stiff material comprising a stem portion slidable in said frame a distance which substantially corresponds to the length of said frame, said stern portion and frame having coacting stop portions determining said distance of slidable movement of the stem portion, said stem portion having length providing an end thereof protruding from the corresponding end of said frame when the stem portion is in its fully retracted position within said frame, an integral wing portion projecting laterally from one side of said one end of the stern portion and generally within the plane of the stem portion, said wing portion having length providing a projecting end thereof to lie within an area of extension outside of said book structure of a margin zone of such page, an integral depending portion depending from said projecting end of the wing portion parallel to and spaced from said stern portion and generally within said plane of the latter, said depending portion having length substantially corresponding to the length of said frame thereby providing an end of said depending portion to lie within the area of such page when said stem portion is in its fully retracted position Within said frame, and to lie within said area of margin zone extension outside of said book structure when said stem portion is in its fully extended position, and an integral opaque screen portion extending laterally from one side of said end of the depending portion and generally within said plane of the stern portion, said screen portion having length to extend across substantially the Width of such zone of printed matter on such page.

No references cited. 

1. THE COMBINATION OF A BOUND BOOK WITH AN ACCESSORY CONSTITUTING A PERMANENT PART OF THE BOOK, COMPRISING HOLLOW FRAME MEANS ATTACHED TO THE STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK AND DISPOSED GENERALLY TO ONE SIDE OF THE PAGE ZONE OF THE BOOK, AND A SLIDE MEMBER OF STIFF MATERIAL COMPRISING AN INTEGRAL STEM PORTION SLIDABLE WITHIN SAID HOLLOW FRAME MEANS A DISTANCE WHICH SUBSTANTIALLY CORRESPONDS TO THE HEIGHT OF THE BOOK, SAID STEM PORTION HAVING LENGTH PROVIDING AN END THEREOF PROTRUDING FROM THE TOP OF THE BOOK, AN INTEGRAL WING PORTION PROJECTING LATERALLY FROM ONE SIDE OF SAID ONE END OF THE STEM PORTION AND GENERALLY WITHIN THE PLANE OF THE STEM PORTION THEREBY PROVIDING A PROJECTING END OF SAID WING PORTION WITHIN AN AREA OF EXTENSION OF THE WIDTH OF THE BOOK AT ITS TOP END, AN INTEGRAL DEPENDING PORTION DEPENDING FROM SAID PROJECTING END OF THE WING PORTION PARALLEL TO AND SPACED FROM SAID STEM PORTION AND GENERALLY WITHIN SAID PLANE OF THE LATTER, SAID DEPENDING PORTION HAVING LENGTH WHICH SUBSTANTIALLY CORRESPONDS TO THE HEIGHT OF THE BOOK THEREBY PROVIDING AN END OF THE DEPENDING PORTION POSITIONABLE BOTH ABOVE AND WITHIN THE AREA OF A PAGE OF THE BOOK, AND AN INTEGRAL OPAQUE SCREEN PORTION PROJECTING LATERALLY FROM ONE SIDE OF SAID END OF THE DEPENDING PORTION AND GENERALLY WITHIN SAID PLANE OF THE STEM PORTION A DISTANCE CORRESPONDING TO THE WIDTH OF A ZONE OF PRINTED MATTER ON SUCH PAGE OF THE BOOK, WHEREBY THE SCREEN PORTION MAY READILY BE INTRODUCED BETWEEN ANY TWO PAGES OF THE BOOK AND IS POSITIONABLE AT ANY LOCATION WITHIN THE HEIGHT OF SUCH PAGE OF THE BOOK TO PROGRESSIVELY COVER SUCH PRINTED MATTER, AND THEREAFTER UNCOVER THE SAME AT A READING LOCATION ABOVE THE SCREEN PORTION, BY SLIDABLY ADJUSTING SAID STEM PORTION WITHIN SAID HOLLOW FRAME MEANS. 